Vegan Moroccan Meatball Pitas

Vegan Moroccan meatball pitas are healthy, easy and beautiful. This meal is good for you and still insanely comforting and filling. The “meatballs” are made from tempeh with delicious Moroccan spices added into the mixture. They are so good all on their own. However, I made some garlic turmeric tahini dressing to go in these pitas, and I insist you do the same.

I like to boil my tempeh before making meatballs with them. It takes all the bitterness out of them and if you boil the tempeh in veggie broth, which I recommend, it gives it nice flavor right off the bat. This is optional, and I made them both after boiling the tempeh and without boiling it. It is really great either way, but I think I prefer the boiling first method.

If you are short on time though, and you don’t mind the flavor of tempeh, you can just throw it into the food processor. Then roasted red peppers, bread crumbs and lots of good spice go into the mix. These Moroccan meatballs are to die for!

Next, I baked the meatballs making this super easy and like, extra healthy. This also frees up your time so you can work on this epic garlic turmeric tahini dressing. It is so good! After I made it the first time, I have been making it constantly to put on sandwiches, salads and these perfect pitas!

Warm up some pita bread or pita pockets, pour some tahini dressing on, add these Moroccan baked tempeh meatballs, some arugula, maybe red onion and more roasted red peppers. My goodness gracious. Great balls of fire. These tempeh meatballs are on fire! These are the best pitas EVER!

Break the tempeh up into chunks and add them to a small sauce pan, and sprinkle with a few pinches of salt and pepper. Add the veggie broth to the sauce pan, just enough to cover the tempeh. About 1-2 cups.

Heat on medium high. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, simmer for about 10 minutes. Then drain the tempeh, disposing of the veggie broth. Then set the tempeh aside to let it cool.

Now, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

While the tempeh is cooling, make a flax egg. Whisk together the flax meal and water in a small bowl. Set aside to thicken.

When the tempeh is cool enough to handle, add it to a food processor. Then add in the flax egg, the bread crumbs, garlic, roasted red peppers, and all the spices.

Process the mixture, pulsing and scraping down the sides as needed until the mixture comes together and everything is very finely chopped. It should hold together in a ball very easily. This make take a few minutes. It should look a lot like ground meat.

Now, spray a sheet pan with non stick spray. Next, form the tempeh mixture into balls. Take about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of the mixture, squeeze together then roll into a ball with the palms of your hands.

Place each ball on the baking sheet. Once you have all the mixture made into balls and on the pan, spray the tops with more non stick spray. It should make about 12-14 meatballs.

Bake the tempeh meatballs at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes, then flip and bake for 10 more minutes.

While the tempeh meatballs are baking, make the dressing. Add all the ingredients for garlic turmeric tahini dressing into a small mixing bowl, then whisk until fully combined. Taste and adjust seasoning. Set aside.

Once the meatballs are baked through, spread some pita bread with the dressing then add some arugula a few of the meatballs, drizzle with more dressing and add red onion or more red peppers or both!

Recipe Notes

You can skip boiling the tempeh first if you want. I have made these with both boiled and raw tempeh and it is good either way. It just gets rid of the bitterness if you boil it first.

Make sure you are just draining the tempeh if you do boil it, don't add the veggie broth to the meatball mixture.

You can put the boiled tempeh in the freezer for a minute to cool off faster.

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